


Life Happens

by ivyspinners



Category: Circle Opens - Tamora Pierce, Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Canon Backstory, Canon Compliant, F/M, Forum: Goldenlake, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-09
Updated: 2011-08-09
Packaged: 2017-11-19 21:36:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/577904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivyspinners/pseuds/ivyspinners
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Yali and Keth didn't so much fall in love as realize they'd already tripped over it.</i>
</p><p>All about Keth and Yali's relationship, in five hundred words. <i>Shatterglass</i> and ALL it entails.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life Happens

The first time Keth met Yali, he accused her of breaking into his room and stealing his things. She stared wide-eyed for a second as she made sense of his stuttering, and laughed. "You're learning faster than most _shenos_."

It was the first time she did not regret misjudging a man.

-

He never did learn who walked out of his room with a smattering of copper coins and one left sandal. He only realized it hadn't been Yali when he moved to Ferouze's Lodgings and realized she lived there, not at his old building.

She accepted his apology with thoughtful eyes. "I'm half-street walker, half-thief, _shenos_. I've stolen before."

"My name is Keth," he said.

-

Yali liked to sit on the doorstep after returning from work, pulling pins out of her hair. He waved at her while on his way out to the forge where he pieced together his dignity, one shard at a time.

Sometimes she found dark circles on his face. "Nightmares?"

Of course self-labeled thieves would notice his night-time wanderings. "Just dreams. I'll be fine."

Yali's face spoke for her. Keth didn't listen.

-

The first time Keth heard Yali sing, he had stayed at Ferouze's because of exhaustion. The beauty of her voice was marred by the lyrics about the different castes.

-

"Did you ever want to be something different?" Keth asked.

"Didn't you?" she said.

He laughed, bitterly. "From what I am now? Yes."

Yali murmured, "Sometimes we must make do."

"If I'd done that," Keth said, "I would still be paralyzed in Namorn."

-

The next day, at the doorstep, Yali said, "I've always wanted to sing. I didn't always want to be a singer."

-

They walked the streets of Khapik together, laughing at magic shows for an hour before a thunderstorm drove him back. Keth showed her his scars. Then he began to talk.

-

He arrived home a little earlier. She left slightly later.

Sometimes he accompanied her singing with his balaka under the pretense of warming up. Sometimes they sat in the courtyard, intermittently keeping Glaki from wandering outside, and just talked. Sometimes they argued.

"How can you look down at our class system, if in Narmon I could be forced into marriage?"

"They put WHAT into the broth here?"

"I prefer to sing madrigals..."

-

"I think you should fight for what you want," Yali told him, eyes on the sky. "And be happy with what you have. Does that make sense?"

-

Yali and Keth didn't so much fall in love as realize they'd already tripped over it.

-

The night Yali kissed Keth for the first time, he began to compose a letter to his betrothed. After his accident, they had both readily agreed to dissolve the contract if someone else became involved.

Someone else was.

-

The day after he finished writing, he made Chime.

Life happened.

-

By the time he next remembered the letter, there was no need to send it.


End file.
